Penn is an award-winning writer of creative non-fiction books as well as a contributor to many anthologies and chapter books. She has been a feature writer and columnist for decades with over five hundred articles on environmental issues and natural history in newspapers, magazines, government publications, on-line news sources and peer-reviewed journals. She’s written environmental guides and educational handbooks for teachers in British Columbia.
Stories from the Magic Canoe
Other Books
Following the Good River
Based on recorded interviews and journal entries this major biography of Cecil Paul (Wa’xaid) is a resounding and timely saga featuring the trials, tribulations, endurance, forgiveness, and survival of one of North American’s more prominent Indigenous leaders.
Butler Book Prize 2022
Spirits of the Coast
Spirits of the Coast brings together the work of marine biologists, Indigenous knowledge keepers, poets, artists, and storytellers, united by their enchantment with the orca.
BC Bestseller
A Year on the Wild Side
A Year on the Wild Side is a witty "social and natural history comedy" composed of 52 essays arranged in 12 monthly chapters. This engaging book reveals the magic and humour of the natural world and reminds us of our place in it.
Nominated for BC Book Prize 2020
BC Bestseller
The Real Thing
The Real Thing is the first official biography of Ian McTaggart Cowan (1910–2010), the “father of Canadian ecology.” Briony Penn provides an unprecedented and accessible window into the story of this remarkable naturalist. From his formative years roaming the mountains around Vancouver looking for venison to his last years as a major contributor to the voluminous and authoritative Birds of British Columbia, Cowan’s life provides a unique perspective on a century of environmental change—with a critical message for the future.
Winner of North American Wildlife Society Book Prize 2022
Winner of the 2016 Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize and the inaugural Mack Laing Literary Prize.
Shortlisted for the 2016 Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prizes.